Inciting Investigations

Chapter 23

Birdy Anders

“Want me to walk you up there?” Sarah’s voice traveled to her ears.

“No, I need to do this alone. I’ll try to call you if I don’t get my phone taken away.” Birdy answered.

She got out of the car and briskly walked around to the sidewalk. She slipped on her backpack and looked back one more time. “Bye.” She spoke to Sarah’s still tear stricken face. “See you, kid.” Was all that Birdy heard before the window was rolled back up.

The car drove away down the street, and she stood there to watch it leave until it was completely out of her sight. It felt odd, almost bittersweet. She was glad to finally put this case to rest after so many years, but as she looked back, this really was the end of a chapter in her life. Throughout working on this, she had met Sarah and bonded with her, gotten closure for something that had bothered her for so long, and made justice for her brother. She knew that she still had a long way in life to go from where she was at, but still, she wished just a little bit that she could stay stagnant in those past few weeks solving an old case.

Birdy turned around and looked at her childhood home with refreshed joy after being away from it for so long. She knew that it was around dinnertime, though she doubted that her family would be bothering with food right then. She remembered so long ago back when Cyrus first disappeared, how long it took for them to get back onto a regular nighttime eating schedule. Probably a couple months after they had their first family meal without him.

Birdy took in one last deep breath before slowly walking up the pathway to the door. She knew that she would be welcomed back with tons of hugs and tears, but after that, that was where the not so great stuff came in. She had no doubt that her phone would be taken away for months, not to mention the groundings and scoldings she would get. If she had any less common sense, she would’ve walked the other way and never gone back. Unfortunately, she actually liked her family and friends too much to actually do that.

After a couple more minutes of standing in the cold Alaskan air, she put her finger up to the doorbell and pushed down on it twice. She wound her arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm as she heard someone rushing around inside to get to the door in front of her.

Then suddenly, the door was open.

Cyrus stood in front of her with wide red eyes and a messy appearance. His hair was all tousled up, probably from ringing it in his stress. He stood there for a moment, looking stunned before he snapped out of his trance and pulled his little sister into a tight hug.

Birdy pulled her arms around her older brother as well while she listened to his quiet sobs flow into her ears. He pulled back to look at her for a second, and as she stared into his eyes that were the same dull shade of brown as her own, she also let out a happy tear.

Finally, they broke apart, and Cyrus pulled her into the, thankfully, warm house. He immediately began voicing the questions that she knew to be expecting from him the moment she got home.

“Are you hurt?”

“Are you hungry?”

“Do you need medicine?”

“Do you want me to call a therapist?”

“Is there anything I can get you?”

“Are you sick?”

“Did you drink enough water?”

“Did you eat enough?”

“Are you okay?”

On and on, he went like a mantra, repeating out all the same questions in different formats while he put multiple blankets around her shoulders. Grabbing her water bottles and snacks, just in case she needed them. He even pulled out the cold medicine, just to be safe.